Year 1967
The year began with Major Kirklighter, "the Red Baron", still in command. On April 10th, he relinquished command to Major Neal Petree who was in turn replaced by Major Stokely Wilson on August 2nd who served the remainder of the year. Many men considered Major Kirklighter to be the best CO they ever had. He demanded that all AC's be able to lead the flight and routinely rotated them into flight lead. Since Major Kirklighter was the senior company commander in the battalion the Vultures were normally tapped to lead large CA's. However, he wasn't all business and no play. Major Kirklighter had his own bar stool at the O Club with a UH-1 shoulder harness and seat belt.

The top heavy pilots roster had still not improved much by early 1967 and in some respects was worse. At one point there were 39 majors in the company, including 9 on the LTC list. The "ordinary" majors were pretty much relegated to "carrying the helmets" of the ones on the LTC list, so to speak.

Runway lighting was installed at Phouc Vinh early in the year. The lights were left on until all reported traffic had landed each night and was available on call at other times. This made night landings much safer and, of course, made it much easier to find Phouc Vinh at night.

During the 1966-67 period the Vultures were in very heavy demand and it was common for pilots to log 200 hours or more per month. In fact, WO Christiansen reports that his highest monthly total was 260 hours and his longest day was 17 hours--That's a lot of flying! This kind of flying put an incredible strain on the crews and the First Aviation Brigade later initiated a policy of no more than 140 hours in any 30 day period (although it was often ignored).

In early January, a Copperhead fire team supporting the first battalion, 26th Infantry north of Lai Khe made 15 confirmed kills as it attacked VC near an LZ it was covering. Two days later, a Copperhead fire team led by Cpt John Barry, and accompanied by Major Kirklighter, made 10 more confirmed kills while supporting ARVN units outside of Tan An.

A senseless accident occurred on February 1st. A man from the 407th, SP4 Willard A. Philson, stepped on a land mine while crossing over the perimeter wire to the adjoining ARVN compound and was killed. Men from the 162nd and 407th routinely visited the ARVN compound to buy beer and other "necessities" of life. No one knew the area between the two compounds was mined until this incident. There was some speculation that the mines were old Japanese mines left over from WWII. Mine-clearing teams were brought in shortly thereafter and the area was cleared.

On February 3, 1967 Major Paul R. Karas, the XO, and Major William Phillips, the Operations Officer, were killed while on a lift south of Saigon in the area know as the "Testicles". They were lead ship (66-00908) on a joint US/ARVN lift. The US and ARVN troops were to land in different LZ's. Enroute to the first LZ the US commander switched the LZ's and the US troops were landed in the ARVN LZ, right in the middle of a huge rice paddy with no trees for at least a mile on each side. The ARVNs, on the other hand, were to land in the apex of a V-shaped area with a river and trees on each side.

On short final of a 10-ship staggered trail formation, the ARVN commander changed plans and shouted for Major Karas to land short. He quickly informed the flight of the change and the ships landed along a dike line with the lead ship in roughly the spot where the trail ship would have been. As the troops unloaded, a massive explosion lifted the lead ship up about 10 feet and rolled it over on its left side where it beat itself to death, ending bottom up at a 45 degree angle. The pilot, Major Phillips, was killed instantly and Major Karas was mortally wounded while the flight surgeon going along as gunner (Cpt Frank Anzalone) incurred shrapnel wounds in his chest and legs. The CE was also wounded seriously. The rest of the flight was taking heavy fire and pulled pitch. It was several hours before a rescue ship could land. Major Karas was still alive and strapped into his seat upside down but his wounds were severe. He died on the medivac ship.

It was later learned that there were mines all along the dike leading to the apex. Since the ARVN commander told Major Karas to land short, it appears that he may well have known about the planned ambush of US troops.

A few days later on February 7th, a Copperhead gunship (64-14153) lost power and crashed into a river on take off from a refueling pad. SP4 Willard A. Godfrey, the crewchief, and SP4 Isiah A. Dobbins, the gunner, were killed by the impact but the pilots (Cpt J. L. Hill and Lt William Robertson) escaped without major injuries.

Also in February, the 162nd along with the rest of the 11th CAB and two other aviation battalions supported the 173rd Airborne and First Division in Operation Junction City, the largest operation of the war to date. The Vultures led several of the initial lifts with 60 or more slicks involved. This action saw the 173rd make the only combat jump of the war. Also taking part in the operation were the 25th Division, 11th Armored Calvary, 196th Light Infantry Brigade and the 4th and 9th ARVN Divisions. The target was the enemy bases north of Tay Ninh City (which the French called War Zone C). Over 9,500 troops were lifted in the initial assault. The operation continued until mid-May and enemy dead numbered over 2,700. Large quantities of ammunition, medical supplies and rice were also captured. The first few days of CA's were followed by many days of resupply and ash & trash missions by the 162nd and other supporting units.

In the Jan-Feb period the Vultures took part in several CA's in the Tay Ninh area. On one occasion WO Nick Riviezzo, a Copperhead fire team leader, was shot down in an LZ. His CE (SP4 Rick Franzese) and gunner (SP4 Freeman Bradley) immediately took up positions and began returning the enemy fire. SP4 Franzese noticed a rifle firing from a bunker and ran over, grabbed the barrel and tossed a smoke grenade into bunker. While SP4 Franzese was hanging onto the rifle the VC ran out the back of the bunker and was cut down by WO Riviezzo with the Thompson submachine gun he often carried.

Early in the year a Copperhead fire team was on a search and destroy mission in the delta when they received a call to go to the aid of a US ground unit under heavy fire. They contacted the unit and were told that artillery fire was incoming on the target. They coordinated with the ground unit to set up a gun run so as to avoid the artillery. On the initial run, SP4 Dennis Hickman, was firing his M-60 on a target when a Marine jet from out of nowhere suddenly flew past at a lower altitude and right through his machine fire. The jet was so close the Copperhead crew could see the pilot. He had an ear to ear smile on his face and was smoking a big cigar. They could tell by his look that he knew exactly what he was doing.

A rather unusual event occurred in early '67. The flight surgeon, Cpt Frank Anzalone, had the habit of going along as a crewmember on many of the combat lifts. On one occasion he flew as "copilot" with Cpt Rod Rodowick, the maintenance officer, when the 1st Infantry was chasing VC across the Cambodian border. Cpt Rodowick, in Vulture 777 the maintenance ship, always trailed along on major lifts so as to have maintenance support quickly available. He usually had no copilot so he often invited the flight surgeon to ride along.

On this particular occasion, a Vulture ship with troops on board had crashed, with no serious injuries, just inside Cambodia. Cpt Rodowick happened to be nearby and answered the call for assistance. He immediately picked up the downed crew and passengers and set the crashed ship on fire as he left. The 11th CAB commander arrived on the scene as the rescue was taking place and when they arrived back at Phouc Vinh, he told Cpt Rodowick he did a great job and that he was putting him in for a DFC. Cpt Rodowick told the battalion commander that he had just received a DFC only two weeks before and suggested he give it to his copilot instead. The battalion commander agreed and two weeks later a DFC was presented to Cpt Frank Anzalone. He may well have been the only flight surgeon in Vietnam to be awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross!

In the above incident on the Cambodian border, the Copperhead fire team covering the troop lift and crew extraction, led by WO Nick Riviezzo, were buzzed several times by strange-looking jets they quickly realized were MIGs. WO Riviezzo had visions of becoming the first army helicopter pilot to down a MIG and repeatedly attempted to get permission to fire, all to no avail. Finally, a Navy fighter over on the coast picked up his radio transmission and offered to come over and take care of the MIG. However, WO Riviezzo insisted that he get the first shot. In the end, no one was allowed to fire and the Vultures pulled back from the border.

In April, four new troop barracks in the Vulture area were completed and occupied. Three permanent showers and one latrine was also completed as well as 5 new reinforced bunkers. The VC provided the initiative on the bunkers by mortoring the area four times in three days. Many compound buildings and improvements were completed over the previous six months under the expert guidance of SSG James Graham and SP4 Ronald S. Clough. SP4 Clough, company carpenter, supervised the crew of local carpenters who did much of the construction.

A nice outdoor theatre was also built about this time. Movies were shown every night. Shortly after it opened the movie was late one night and a mortar round landed right in the middle of the theatre area. Luckily no one was there at the time.

The Vultures had a busy month of combat assaults in March but less than half a dozen in April. However, on April 8th the Vultures supported the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division in the vicinity of Duc Hoa on Operation Makalapa. On the 26th of April, they supported the 173rd Airborne by deploying 2 battalions in the jungle north of Bien Hoa.

The Vultures received six pilots from the 187th AHC (Crusaders) for training during April and four pilots and four enlisted men from the 188th AHC (Black Widows) a couple of weeks later. A number of Vietnamese pilots were also trained and two of them joined the Vultures for an extended period of training.

On April 26th, the 2nd platoon and a Copperhead fire team were given the task of supporting Project SIGMA on Operation Blackjack, an assignment which lasted approximately four weeks. The slick crews received training in extracting personnel using a 125-foot rope dangling beneath the aircraft. Ships assigned to this mission were on alert from 0530 to 1930 hours each day. The mission was highly secret and involved a specially trained Special Forces unit (ANYONE HAVE ANY DETAILS OF THIS?)

Just after dawn on May 2nd Vulture 992 crashed during an approach to an LZ. SP4 Robert Bowling, the gunner, incurred a minor back injury. The crew and troops were extracted from the area and a security force inserted until the aircraft could be evacuated by Chinook. The efficiency of the aircraft evacuation process was demonstrated in this incident. From the time the ship went down to the final evacuation by a CH-47 from Phu Loi, the total elapsed time was 1 hour and 20 minutes. Close fire support was provided by the Copperheads and the Crossbows out of Lai Khe.

On May 3rd a tactical emergency was declared by the Special Forces troops supported by the 2nd platoon. Seventeen UH-1D ships and 3 light fire teams were mobilized to extract the unit and close air support was also provided by the Air Force. The evacuation was made without incident.

The new CO of the758th Medical Det., Cpt William B. Sanders, had his mettle tested during the month when over 30 Vultures developed food poisoning. However, the new "doc" quickly traced the poisoning to a batch of improperly refrigerated bread pudding and administered the proper antidote.

In mid-May, a small group of nine Special Forces troops were cut off and surrounded by a large force of VC. While only 20 meters from a clearing where they could be picked up, enemy fire was so intense they could not move. They radioed that they could not survive if not picked up immediately. Because of this extreme emergency, Major Stephen P. Stout, 2nd platoon leader, immediately led three slicks into the PZ, covered by a Copperhead fire team. During the one minute they were in the PZ, all three ships received numerous hits and two members of the command party on Major Stout's ship were seriously wounded. Due to the intensity of fire the troops could not make it to the aircraft and the ships were forced to take off without them. Major Stout then headed to Phouc Vinh to get medical attention for the wounded men on board.

The other two ships under WO Kenneth Bristow and WO David Capouya went back to the PZ. WO Bristow made a low pass over the area to locate the ground troops and received more hits from enemy fire. His ship lost lateral cyclic control and a Special Forces crew member on board was seriously wounded. WO Bristow made a successful forced landing two klicks from the PZ. WO Capouya landed close by and picked up the wounded man while Major Stout, who had returned from Phouc Vinh, picked up the rest of the crew. The two ships then returned to Phouc Vinh where it was determined that WO Capouya's ship was no longer flyable. Two additional slicks, under Major Ronald White, 1st platoon leader, and WO James Christiansen then joined Major Stout in his rescue attempt. Arriving at the PZ WO Christiansen was told to circle the downed ship (WO Bristow's) so the Copperhead fire team could be released to cover the extraction. Major Stout and his copilot (WO Craig Cameron) made a low pass through the PZ and received moderate fire but spotted the US troops at the edge of a tree line. They circled around for an approach and began receiving heavy small arms fire, taking a number of hits. At this point both the gunner, SP4 Mark Epting, and crew chief, SP4 Charles Chase, had expended all of their ammunition. At touchdown the ship took a round through the tail rotor drive shaft and 90 degree gearbox. The US troops climbed aboard but Major Stout almost immediately had to do a hovering autorotation as the tail rotor failed completely. Everyone scrambled out of the ship and took cover.

At this point Major Little and WO Ronald Freer approached and landed their aircraft beside the downed ship. Their ship began taking hits but the US troops and downed crew scrambled on board. Major Stout was sitting in the door of the ship firing at the enemy when he was hit in the head by a round but not seriously injured. When all were on board Major Little and WO Freer executed a takeoff with 1250 lbs. of fuel and 17 people, mostly Americans, on board the single ship. That's good size Americans, not skinny Vietnamese-proof of the exceptional capabilities of the UH-1! On top of that, the engine also had a round go completely through the compressor section just prior to the takeoff.

After delivering his passengers to Phouc Vinh where Major Stout received medical attention, Major Little led flights carrying a Special Forces Mike Force unit into the two LZs to secure the downed ships.

Major Stout and Major Little were awarded a Sliver Star for their actions during this incident. There were also 4 DFC's, 6 Air Medals with V and 12 Army Commendation Medals with V awarded to other personnel involved in the incident.

The nights of May 12-14 saw plenty of activity in the 162nd area as the unit experienced four mortar attacks in the three nights. During a 30-minute period beginning at 0207 hours, May 12th, 57 mortar rounds landed within the company area. Several personnel were wounded as they ran to their bunkers and several 2nd platoon enlisted men were seriously injured when a round came through the roof of their barracks.

Five rounds landed in the immediate vicinity of "Majors' Manor" which housed all of the senior officers in the company. One round landed directly in front of the building, sending shrapnel through doors, windows and walls. Another came through the roof and one hit a few feet from the room occupied by the CO and XO. Roughly 15-20 rounds landed in the maintenance area causing severe damage to 10 aircraft. The CO's new helicopter, with less than 100 hours on it, took a direct hit and was completely destroyed. Both maintenance tents were also destroyed and shrapnel riddled many drums, containers and tires. The 450th Signal Det. had all 4 of its vans severely damaged, one of which took a direct hit and was completely destroyed.

The Copperheads scrambled a fire team but saw little action since Air Force jets and flare ships were quickly on station to provide counter fire. Throughout the attack there were numerous incidents of courageous efforts by many individuals to help their wounded comrades. The commanding general of the First Aviation Brigade later presented 4 Bronze Stars, 13 Army Commendation Medals with V and 29 Purple Hearts to men of the 162nd.

After these attacks on May 12th-14th, all flyable aircraft were evacuated to Phu Loi and Lai Khe each night for a week. However, even with this extreme inconvenience to the crews and maintenance personnel, all assigned missions were completed and every man contributed that little bit extra.

During June, the Vultures flew CA's on 16 separate days throughout the III Corps area. During one of the CA's a round hit a rocket warhead on a Copperhead gunship (64-14154) flown by Lt William Robertson. The round caused the warhead to explode, thereby causing 3 more warheads to explode, riddling the aircraft with shrapnel and causing loss of hydraulics. Lt Robertson and CW2 Peter Salamone, who were not injured, managed to land the crippled gunship on a nearby road. The gunner, SP4 Robert Alverado, was severely wounded in the explosion. The CE, SP5 Robert Goulas, was not harmed by the exploding rockets but got a little nervous on the way down and jumped from the aircraft before it landed, injuring his back.

Only 36 days before this explosion Lt. Robertson and Cpt Thomas Quisenberry had been flying this same C model when 2 rockets exploded just after leaving the tube. The ship received severe damage from shrapnel and the concussion shattered nearly all of the plexiglass. The crew chief, SP4 Donald Combs, was severely wounded in this incident.

After leading a three company lift inserting two battalions of the First Infantry Division on June 5th, the Vultures began resupplying the troops. Lt Joe Grier (65-12775) was approaching an LZ to land in the north end while artillery was landing in the south end. Suddenly the artillery shifted to his end and shells began impacting all around him on short final, hitting his ship with shrapnel. Lt Grier and the pilot (VNAF Lt Nguyen Van Mao) lost all hydraulics but managed to land the ship without further damage.

The same day WO Donald Foster experienced mechanical problems in Vulture 146 (66-01146) northeast of Saigon. The ship became almost uncontrollable but WO Foster managed to land in a rice paddy. After shutting down, one side of the ship began to sink into the mud causing the still turning rotor blade to dip very low. For some reason the crew chief walked into the turning blade and was struck in the head. Luckily he was wearing his flight helmet and was knocked senseless but not seriously injured. Unfortunately, during recovery, a Chinook dropped the ship from roughly 500 feet--a brand new aircraft with only 377 hours on it!

A freak accident occurred at Phouc Vinh on June 14th. A Rebel fire team from the First Infantry Division Aviation Battalion landed for refueling and rearming. A crew chief on
one of the ships was shot in the head by a minigun that was accidentally discharged (by static electricity) during rearming. Despite rapid attention by "Doc" Sanders, the CE died within a few minutes.

The Vultures did a full day's work on July 3rd supporting the Second Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division on Eagle Flights in the Duc Hoa area west of Saigon. During one insertion in late afternoon a 10 ship flight landed square in the middle of a VC stronghold. Eight ships were hit with a total of 19 rounds. WO Fretts was hit in the right arm, WO Christiansen in the face and Major Stout in the right leg with shrapnel. The lifts continued until 2100 hours that night, a long and exhausting day.

In early July, the Vulture compound was hit with a mortar attack. No one was seriously injured but a couple of brand new D models that had just arrived were riddled with shrapnel. One mortar round scored a direct hit on Majors' Manor but failed to explode. The round came through the roof and landed square on the chest of a Major called "chief" (DOES ANYONE REMEMBER HIS NAME??) who was lying in his bunk. Although the round did not explode it did leave a bad bruise and broke several of the Major's ribs. Lt Paul Fellencer recalls "It was the only time I ever heard someone being profusely and audibly thankful for a bruised chest and broken ribs." Curiously, two VNAF pilots assigned to the Vultures for training mysteriously disappeared just before the mortar attack. There was a strong suspicion that the attack was directed from the bell tower of the church/school just outside the main gate.

While on the way home from a lift on July 16th Lt William Robertson, Copperhead fire team leader, spotted a group of bushes floating down the river. As the fire team made a low pass, the bushes headed for the riverbank. Lt Robertson then began circling the camouflaged VC sampan while his gunner, SP4 Charles Smith, put 1500 rounds of machine gun fire into the boat. One VC was killed trying to escape from the boat which was then sunk by 40mm "Chunker" fire.

The 24th of July was a day that will be long remembered by WO David Capouya and WO Laurence Altobell. They were flying a gunship escorting slicks from a staging area for a lift with the 25th Infantry Division and had an engine failure at 3,500 feet on top of a solid cloud layer. They autorotated through the clouds and by sheer luck broke out over a clearing in the trees, the only one for miles around, and landed with no injuries. They were picked up in minutes by WO Donald Foster in the Vulture "Scavenger" maintenance ship.

Later that same day Major Wilson, the CO, was flying a C&C ship and spotted three VC in the open west of Nha Be. He could not contact the gunships who had gone to Nha Be to refuel so he made a low level pass and SP4 Huckabey, the gunner, managed to bag all three of them.

At 0035 hours on July 27th the Phouc Vinh complex was hit with mortar and rocket fire. Of the roughly 137 rounds fired in the 37 minute attack, 16 120 mm rockets landed within the Vulture roost. Three men were seriously wounded at the beginning of the attack when several rounds hit the mess hall. Another received injuries that later required amputation of both legs below the knee as he ran from one bunker to another one so as to be with his platoon. Fourteen others received less serious wounds. Dr. Sanders and his medical staff had an aid station operating in their bunker and probably saved the lives of four seriously wounded men. However, another man , PFC Lawrence A. Dietz, died in the hospital later that day. God rest his soul! A 104 foot long barracks also took a direct hit and two rounds missed a bunker with 20 men in it by 2 feet.

Throughout the attack there were many courageous acts as men helped their wounded comrades. Two DFC's, one Bronze Star with V, six Air Medals with V, seven Army Commendation Medals with V and two Army Commendation Medals were awarded to men of the 162nd for actions during this incident.

On August 4th, the 162nd supported the 9th Infantry Division with Eagle Flights south of Saigon near Rach Kien. Three ships were hit coming into one LZ and a Copperhead gunship (WO James Ramsey) was hit in the fuel cell, spraying fuel on the windshield and interfering with the pilots' vision. However, he was able to fly to a safe area for later extraction by Chinook. Major General George Seniff, the First Aviation Brigade Commander, happened to be flying nearby in his C model gunship and took the place of the damaged gunship. That must have scared the men in the remaining Copperhead gunship far more any VC did! The general ended up taking a round in his tail boom.

An unfortunate and needless accident occurred on August 8th when SP4 Charles A. Jones, gunner on 64-13862, walked into the tail rotor while getting ready for a 25 ship CA with the First Division. He was killed instantly. God rest his soul.

Another accident around this time almost had fatal results as the Copperheads were doing a hot refueling in the rearming revetments at Phouc Vinh. The fuel truck was positioned outside the revetment and the hose draped over the revetment. As you might guess, there was a "fuel pressure surge" and the nozzle popped out of the fuel receptacle, spraying the running C Model with fuel. The resulting fire destroyed the helicopter, the fuel truck, and the revetment. The rockets and ammo "cooked off" and provided quite a fireworks display. Fortunately, nobody was hurt. A few days later, the Battalion CO came to Phouc Vinh for an Officer's Call. His opening remark was "I understand that the Vultures had a cookout and I wasn't invited." The lecture went downhill from there.

During the later part of the year, an enlisted shower and latrine was completed and much of the maintenance area and flight line were peneprimed to cut down on dust in the approaching dry season. In late October, high winds toppled the Vulture Theatre but reconstruction began immediately. Since the mess hall seemed to be a favorite target for mortars and rockets a bunker was added for the mess hall personnel.

The 162nd spent much of October and November supporting Special Forces troops not only in III Corps but also II Corps. In October, three slicks and two gunships flew up to Kontum and took a Special Forces recon team into Laos just west of Dak To. They later picked the team up, brought it back to Kontum and then returned to Phouc Vinh (this was a couple of weeks before the 173rd Airborne Brigade's big battle for Hill 875 near Dak To).

On November 4th while supporting Special Forces units, the Vultures and Copperheads were called to extract the troops. The PZ was very tight and could take only one ship at a time. All four ships on the pickup incurred strike damage from rotor blades hitting the tress but all troops were extracted safely. The aircraft landed at a field location and Vulture maintenance came out and changed all 4 sets of rotor blades, returning the ships to service by the following afternoon.

On November 7th, the Vultures made their first extraction with a McGuire Rig (a long rope with loops for footholds and handholds). It went off without incident but using one of these rigs takes practice by both the extractor (crew) and extractees. Another extraction took place at around 2300 hours in mid November. Although a bit tricky, there were no problems other than a Copperhead pilot incurring a slight flesh wound from shrapnel. The Vultures also used rope ladders for some extractions and a LRRP radioman from the 75th Infantry fell off the ladder and was killed during one such extraction.

In late November the 162nd supported the Special Forces for several weeks in an unusual operation near Ham Tan, 20-30 miles north of Vung Tau. A flight of 5 slicks and 2 gunships ferried 150 Cambodian mercenaries and 10 Special Forces advisors to a field location to begin operating in the local area. The Vultures and Copperheads took along tents and other gear and lived in the field themselves for a couple of weeks alongside the Cambodian troops. WO Don Welch recalls this as his first exposure to Cambodian mercenaries.

Unlike ARVN troops who sometimes had to be physically thrown off a ship landing in an LZ, the Cambodians were very eager to fight and Vulture crews found it difficult to keep too many from getting on ships in the PZ. They did not like Vietnamese at all and must have been paid some sort of bonus for killing VC. Every time a Vulture ship cranked up to go out to a field location, the crews had to practically fight the Cambodians off-they all wanted to go kill VC.

The Special Forces often did some rather unusual things and supporting them was never dull. During the operation near Ham Tan they killed an NVA Major and wired his body to a mine that would explode if he was moved. They propped him up in a chair with an RC Cola in one hand and a transistor radio playing music in the other. However, nothing happened and the Special Forces folks came back by a few days later and buried him.

In the last couple of months of the year the Vultures trained pilots from the 135th AHC (Emu's) and from helicopter units accompanying the newly arrived 101st Airborne Division. As a change of pace the 162nd also twice conducted CA's for the 9th Division's Mobile Riverine Force in the Vinh Long- Dong Tam area. This gave pilots the chance to make a few "carrier" landings to support ships anchored in the Delta rivers.

Throughout 1967 the 162nd also frequently supported the 25th Division on Eagle Flights. This involved lifting a company or more of troops into a suspected VC area. The slicks then stood by at a near by airfield. If contact was made, more troops were lifted in. If not, they were extracted and inserted somewhere else. On one Eagle Flight in July, WO Paul Fretts was pilot on an afternoon insertion of troops into a pineapple field west of Duc Hoa. As his ship landed a VC jumped up in front of him and fired an AK-47 point blank through the windshield. One round ricocheted off the inside of his armor seat and hit WO Fretts in the back. The AC, WO Dave Pridgeon, took off so quickly that 2 grunts could not get off and were reported as missing by their unit until they showed up at their base a few days later. WO Fretts was medivac'd to Hotel 3 in Saigon and later recovered back in the US.

On December 19th the Vultures were engaged in training exercises for newly arrived troops of the 101st Airborne at Phouc Vinh. One ship (65-09987) took off from the airfield with 6 troops on board for a practice CA. However, as they turned downwind the engine failed at 200 feet. The AC, WO John F. Holz, attempted to extend his glide past a stand of rubber trees but the ship came down hard, bounced upside down and blew up, killing all 10 people on board. In addition to WO Holz, the lost crewmembers were WO Larry A. Harke (pilot), SP4 Robert D. Kline (crewchief), and SP4 Anthony V. Campaniello (gunner).

 

Memorable Incidents

Other memorable incidents that occurred during 1967 include:
· Lt Robertson, WO Tom Shirley, SP4 Larry Rippie and SP Robert Goulas were on a recon near Phouc Vinh early in the year and spotted what later proved to be a mobile rocket launcher. They could not find it when they came back around but reported it to Intelligence when the returned to the roost. They identified it as a rocket launcher from a photo book of NVA weapons but the intelligence people dismissed it by saying the VC didn't have rockets that far south. In a few days, the Phouc Vinh compound was hit with its first rocket attack.

· A major hit his head running into a bunker during a mortar attack and was awarded a Purple Heart.

· WO John McCamish was AC on a lift with the 25th Infantry near Cu Chi and was in a staggered trail right formation of 10 slicks that had landed in a huge, maybe 50-acre LZ that was clear-cut except for a few trees on their right. WO McCamish somehow got hemmed in by the other ships and hit a tree on take-off, causing the ship to crash and burn. No one was hurt but WO McCamish got a tongue lashing from the CO and took a lot of ribbing from other pilots for hitting "the only tree in a huge LZ." It wasn't exactly one of his career high points!

· During a party one night the CO dispatched several trucks to downtown Phouc Vinh to bring back some female companionship for the company. The VD rate went sky high and the men in the 758th Medical Detachment had their work cut out for them.

· Pilot staffing in the gun platoon went from almost all Majors at the beginning of the year to all WO's at one point in the fall. The CO "traded" one experienced gun-qualified WO to another unit for 2 gun-qualified Lt's.

· WO Nick Riviezzo, Copperhead fire team leader, received a "battlefield" promotion to 2nd Lt and was transferred to another unit. During a going away party organized by his crew, SP4 Rick Franzese and SP4 Freeman Bradley, his CE and gunner told the CO, Major Kirklighter, that with WO Riviezzo leaving, they were not going to fly anymore. The "Red Baron" was a bit taken aback by their statement but quickly recovered, then smiled and told them to report to the maintenance detachment in the morning.

· Some recall the legendary "Doc" Weatherford, a gunner who had already served several tours in Vietnam (and thus had to be a little different), who armed mortar rounds and carried them under his seat to throw out on final approach as his own form of LZ prep.